The flying glass shards when Zhang Qing crushed the coffee cup seemed to be still in front of her eyes, and the cruel words "Huacheng is 300 kilometers away from Longji Mountain, do you think you can escape?" were still echoing in her ears.

Gu Fanxing stroked the acceptance letter in his hand. The edge of the paper was slightly wrinkled, and each wrinkle was like a shadow cast on the paper by a conspiracy in the dark.

I thought I could avoid the attack by staying away from Huacheng, but I didn't expect that Zhang Qing and the other two had already crossed the region and wove a web of obstacles in Longji Mountain.

At this moment, in the high-end apartment in the center of Huacheng, the crystal chandelier made Zhang Qing's face flicker.

Li Xuan slammed her tablet computer onto the marble coffee table. The archaeological team's vehicle location data flashed on the screen in real time: "Satellite data indicates that their vehicle has entered the outskirts of Longji Mountain and is expected to arrive at the site in two hours."

Zhao Lin spun the laser cutter, the blade gleaming coldly under the floor lamp. "The tire cut is just three millimeters deep, enough to last until a blowout before we head into the mountains. It's not fatal, but it's enough to teach them a lesson."

Zhang Qing slowly twirled her manicure, her fingertips tracing over the digital map of Qingya Town. "The flat tire was just the starter. They tampered with their satellite map, replacing the altar in the eastern valley with a swamp sign. Then they had Old Zhou from the village pretend to be a forest ranger and point them in the wrong direction."

As she spoke, she opened the folder in the computer. The dozens of GB of information contained not only detailed files of each member of the archaeological team, but also marked weaknesses such as Gu Fanxing's fear of thunder and Ling Jiuer's fear of the dark.

Li Xuan suddenly leaned over with a sinister smile on her face. "My cousin hacked into the archaeological team's communication system. Now every 'instruction' they hear is our script. When they arrive at the site, we'll send a message saying there's an equipment malfunction and tell them to wander around in the mountains for a few more hours."

She played a recording, and a pitch-distorted female voice echoed in the room.

"The road ahead has collapsed. Return immediately the way you came."

Zhao Lin clapped her hands excitedly. "I even contacted the drone team and played some eerie sound effects above their tents in the middle of the night. I'm sure they'll be scared and unable to sleep!"

Zhang Qing picked up the bronze mask replica on the table and tried it on her face.

"We disguised the directional electromagnetic jammer as a regular circuit board and replaced the original satellite phone components of the archaeological team. Once they unearthed something, the communication equipment would malfunction. We then sent forged ancient Dian Kingdom documents to their work group, deliberately leaving a few critical errors in the pottery restoration process."

Zhao Lin suddenly pulled a small bottle from her bag. "I prepared this. A special pigment. Mix it with their drinking water. Drinking it will only cause temporary diarrhea. And this fluorescent powder. Sprinkle it on their archaeological tools. In broad daylight, they'll look like they're cursed."

The three of them looked at each other and laughed triumphantly.

Zhang Qing opened another folder, which contained a fake archaeological report generated by AI.

"When they are exhausted, they will send out this 'result' and make the institute question their ability.

In addition, find out Ling Jiuer's hometown address and send some anonymous threatening letters to scare her.

By the way, isn’t Gu Fanxing good at restoring pottery? Let’s contact the black market dealers, get some imitation pottery fragments from the ancient Dian Kingdom, sneak into their excavation site, and then see how she makes a fool of herself!

At the same time, three hundred kilometers away, an off-road vehicle heading towards Longji Mountain was shaking violently on the winding mountain road.

Gu Fanxing's attention was suddenly attracted by the black SUV in the rearview mirror.

The car had been following the supply truck since it entered the mountainous area, but when the supply truck had a flat tire, it suddenly accelerated and disappeared in the thick fog.

"The spare tire has been tampered with!" The driver's exclamation interrupted her thoughts. Gu Fanxing squatted down and looked at the neat laser cuts on the sidewall of the tire. The words "Huacheng Laser Technology" on Zhang Qing's husband's work badge flashed through her mind.

As dusk fell, the archaeological team finally arrived at the site.

Ling Jiuer's tablet suddenly issued a shrill alarm: "GPS signal abnormality! Map data is being forcibly overwritten!"

Gu Fanxing looked at the distorted contour lines on the screen and was shocked to find that the location of the altar had turned into a swamp, and the land beneath their feet was exactly the same as the map of the ancient Dian Kingdom in Zhang Qing's office.

What was even more bizarre was that the compass he carried with him began to spin wildly, with the needle shaking uncontrollably.

That night, when Gu Fanxing was sorting pottery fragments in the tent, the kerosene lamp suddenly exploded.

The spliced human face totem flickered in the firelight, and she suddenly remembered what Zhang Qing had said in the tea room.

Before he finished speaking, Ling Jiuer's scream was heard outside the tent.

Under the moonlight, the archaeological team's tent was splashed with a liquid mixed with special pigments and animal blood, and three voodoo dolls were nailed in the center. The fabric fibers on the dolls were found to be the same material as their work clothes.

Ling Jiuer pointed at the puppet, trembling: "They must have done this!" Gu Fanxing noticed that there was a half-piece of paper under the puppet's feet. On it was written in the ancient Dian language: "Those who are lost will be trapped here forever."

For the next three days, troubles continued.

The team members began to show symptoms of diarrhea, and the fluorescent powder on the archaeological tools glowed a strange blue in the sunlight.

What was even more fatal was that when Gu Fanxing was repairing the bronze ware according to the historical records, the adhesive suddenly failed and almost damaged the cultural relic.

She urgently stopped the work, carefully compared the materials, and found that the key ratio data in the literature had been tampered with.

"It's Zhang Qing!" Ling Jiuer pulled out the "archaeological report" that suddenly appeared in the work group. "These data are completely different from what we found before!"

Gu Fanxing did not panic, but took Ling Jiuer to re-survey the terrain, using the most primitive compass and pace measurement method to determine the direction, and finally found the real sacrificial altar ruins in the mountain stream on the west side.

Faced with the dilemma of communication equipment failure, Gu Fanxing thought that waste utilization might be the solution.

She took Ling Jiuer to rummage through the pile of tools and found an old walkie-talkie from twenty years ago. By modifying the antenna and adjusting the frequency band, they miraculously restored short-distance communication.

When Zhang Qing and the other two were watching the surveillance footage in the apartment and found that Gu Fanxing not only saw through the trap but also found the ruins, their faces instantly turned ashen.

At this time, Ling Jiuer received an anonymous letter. In the letter was a photo of her parents walking in the park, with "They are next" written in red pen next to it.

Gu Fanxing immediately contacted the local police to strengthen the protection of Ling Jiuer's parents, and installed positioning tracking software on Ling Jiuer's mobile phone.

At the excavation site, Gu Fanxing indeed discovered unusual pottery fragments.

The soil quality of these pottery fragments does not match the surrounding environment, and the traces of aging on the glaze are also slightly harsh.

Using a spectrometer to examine the ingredients, she quickly confirmed that they were modern imitations.

"You want to embarrass me?" Gu Fanxing sneered and took a photo of the test report. "I already have the evidence in my hands."

In the rain, Gu Fanxing stared at the paint marks on the pottery jar and clenched her fists. She set up a micro camera at the scene and used ultraviolet light to illuminate the intruder's footprints.

When the "forest ranger" arranged by Zhang Qing appeared again, Gu Fanxing turned on the recording and recorded the entire conversation in which the other party induced them to go to the dangerous area.

Late that night, the buzzing sound of drones arrived as expected.

Gu Fanxing was well prepared. She used scrap parts to make a simple electromagnetic interference device.

When the drone approached, it lost control and fell.

She found some communication records of Zhang Qing and the other two planning the conspiracy in the memory card she picked up.

"Fanxing, the drinking water problem has been solved!" Ling Jiuer ran over, holding a distillation device. "I made a simple distiller using bamboo tubes and plastic cloth. Boiling the water will purify it and it will be fine."

Seeing the frequent situations, Gu Fanxing knew that this contest was far from over, but they would never give up easily.

At this moment in Huacheng, Zhang Qing looked at the images transmitted back and threw the remote control to the ground: "Gu Fanxing, we'll see!"

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